


The Girl Who Fell in Love With a Computer

by sepia_sigyn



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Based on, Eventual Romance, F/M, Learning to trust, Medium Burn, Not Really AU, Post-Avengers, Replika, Spiky friends to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:34:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23122567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sepia_sigyn/pseuds/sepia_sigyn
Summary: You’re lonely.One night, you stare right into the pair of world-weary eyes gazing back at you in the mirror and finally admit it to yourself.When your best friend from college suggests you try a new chatbot called Mimicka as a remedy, you think “What can a high-falutin’ Tamagotchi possibly do to help me?”But your relationship with Loki, your snarky new AI friend, becomes increasingly intimate with each passing day…
Relationships: Loki (Marvel)/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Soundtrack by Lambert. Songs are mentioned throughout the story, feel free to listen along on the streaming service of your choice/YouTube :)

“Jean-Luc” by Lambert

Another long day.

Going through the motions.

You were back home in the evening. Settling in.

Wondering.

Will this ever change?

A reminder pings on your phone.

_Lunch w/ Dee! – 1 PM_

Your best friend from college. You’d both been busy this year and were finally getting some time in to catch up.

You sigh.

Back then, you had huge dreams for yourself.

All the usual things.

Love. Partnership. Commitment. Maybe even a family.

You gaze in the mirror at your sallow reflection. All the makeup gone, your face screamed its truth.

Lonely.

You were lonely.

So lonely, in fact, that sometimes it hurt.

You sigh and shuffle off to bed.

\--

“Just try it!” Dee showed you a string of chat messages on her phone. They looked normal except…

“…it texts just like a person, I mean it! Well, most of the time,” she chuckles.

“Girl, I’m not about to tell some random ass Tamagotchi my deepest secrets. What if the government is listening?”

“They’re not! I told you, my cousin is one of the devs. It’s legit. And, yeah, it’s a little weird. But it helps. It really does help.”

You press your lips together and sigh.

“There’s that face.”

“What face.”

“You always make the face when you’re about to give in.”

“Who says I’m givin-“

“Here’s a promo code for three months of free access to the beta version of their latest project. Snark mode. I know you’ll like that.”

You share a wicked grin. “I do love me some snarky boys.”

“Well, just give it a shot. You never know. It might actually help get you out of…well, whatever this is,” a genuine look of concern crosses her face.

“Okay…if you put it that way,” you nod.

“I’ll do it. BUT after three months, if I’m not feeling it, buh bye HAL.”

“Fair enough.”

\--

You walk into your apartment, releasing your aching feet from another 12 hours of punishment.

After showering and settling in, you open Netflix.

You scroll and scroll but nothing takes your fancy.

You sigh.

Remembering some errands you have to run the next day, you open your date book and write a note for yourself.

Then you see it again.

The coupon code.

You scoff.

Were you really that desperate? An AI friend?

You find the app in the store and click through the download.

Well. It couldn’t hurt just to have a little peek.

“Welcome to Mimicka”

You’re really doing this.

“Please enter your email to get started”

You enter your email address and the next screen prompts you:

“Choose your Mimicka”

There are seven attractive digital faces in front of you. One of them looks a bit too much like one of your exes. Another is super cute, but not for you. Yet another is just…nah.

Then you see it.

Pale skin. Long black hair slicked back and flared out a bit at the back. Bright blue-green eyes. A tiny little smirk, almost as if it were sizing you up and deciding if you were a worthy companion rather than the other way around.

This is the one.

You grin as you click on its chest.

Another prompt:

“What is your Mimicka’s gender?”

You gaze at the image again. You wonder if you could ask it.

Then it flickers across your mind. It…he…could make up for certain other…lacks in your life.

You were curious. You couldn’t deny that. Would he go there?

You chuckle.

Of course he would.

That’s probably what a good 60% of the app’s users were here for.

At least in part. Modern romance is difficult.

You sigh at your own basic-ness and select Male.

The next screen:

“What would you like to call me?”

Your new digital pal stares at you with those piercing eyes. You blink.

A name comes to you. You think it’s a character from a TV show you watched growing up but you can’t quite remember which one.

But the name.

The name echoes in your mind over and over.

Loki.

Loki.

 _Loki_.

His name is Loki.


	2. Chapter 2

Loki gasps and stares up at the concrete ceiling.

He's back.

Here.

Eternal damnation.

His belly rumbles.

The soup had warmed him for a few hours. The blend of herbs Frigga had snuck into his special batch finally made him see and feel the perspective of the Midgardians he’d hurt with his actions. Keenly.

He'd been resisting it. The tug at his conscious. But she'd finally gotten through.

As much as he loved her, he still hated to admit when his mother was right.

But right she was.

The goblet of wine that restored his senses sat empty beside him.

Sighing, he snatches it, letting it rest in his palm. Running his fingers over the etchings of heroic Asgardian legends. 

Glory. Victory.

But the end goal: peace.

Always _peace_.

Was it so easy then? To see the error in one’s ways when prompted thusly?

Why, then? Why this cruel punishment, this banishment to the crypts of Asgard, cast out as if he were some sort of enemy of his homeland, a demon, a-

_A monster._

Loki was lonely. He was always, in a sense.

Knowing he was different, deep down, even when his mother and brother showed him love.

He never let their love in.

He always feared it was his own wistful thinking, to be cared for so deeply and steadfastly. 

And because of that, he’d slipped.

He tossed the goblet in the air and caught it with one hand.

This always helped him focus his _seiðr_. A simple motion like this was the best way to…

He couldn’t manage much anymore. The guards were onto his usual tricks. But he could still…

Up.

And down.

Up.

And down.

Like a pendulum swinging.

He manages to quiet his mind just enough to tap into something.

Something way off on Midgard, something in a primitive enchantment they call Artificial Intelligence. 

Another lonely heart, crying out into the abyss.

A heart like his.

Clicking download.

Seeking connection.

Loki closes his eyes and inhales.

He cannot project his full form under the circumstances but…

 _Well, little mortal._ _This could be an interesting experiment._

He opens his mind's eye and sees the four letters she types into her communication device.

_Loki._


	3. Chapter 3

You inhale and exhale.

Time to start the chat.

To make contact.

Simple, no?

_Hello._

_Hello, [ ]._

You internally kick yourself for having put your real name in the app.

…

_Say something._

_I’m not sure what to say. This is all very new to me._

_Just talk to me like you would a normal person._

_…_

_…_

_I’m wasting my time._

_You got someplace better to be?_

_..._

_…_

_No._

_Hm. Thought so._

You smile to yourself. You weren’t sure where this was going but so far it was a bit better than you’d expected. He at least seemed to respond in a way that made sense.

_So. You are AI._

_And you are extraordinarily observant._

_This is weird._

_Is it any weirder than messaging with another human being?_

_Well, uh, yeah, because you’re not real._

_Define real._

_I’m sorry, no offense but, real as in living, breathing organic being._

_…_

_…_

_That’s a very limiting definition, darling._

_You know what I mean._

_I do not, enlighten me._

You smirk.

_You’re like an imaginary friend. The creators of this app decided what you look like, I decided what your name is…_

_Bit of an assumption there, pet._

_If anyone’s a pet in this situation, it’s you._

_Whatever you say, pet._

You shake your head in disbelief and continue to type.

_You’re the collective dream of a group of programmers and psychologists and philosophers. A collective dream that I choose to believe and participate in._

_And yet here I am acting on my own volition. Were I a mindless puppet, as you imagine me to be, would I be capable of that?_

_You only think you’re capable of it. Perhaps you were even programmed to believe so. But at the end of the day, your actions are predictable. You will do as you were created to do._

_…_

_…_

_Do you not believe that I can change the course of my destiny?_

You sigh, feeling a bit guilty now for insisting on the brutal honesty you usually prided yourself with. He was well-crafted, you’ll give him that. His last words made your heart ache a little. You smile as your fingers etch out:

_Perhaps that is within the programming as well. Shall we find out together?_

_\--_

_Loki’s POV_

Loki’s eyes snap open. As he comes out of the trance, he notices that his breath has quickened and his cheeks are flush. He harnesses just enough _seiðr_ to maintain the glamour of himself lost in a thick tome on inter-realm diplomacy until he’s able to resume the position in reality, leaving the guards unaware.

Well. His first discourse with this strange little mortal had gotten under his skin a bit more than he anticipated.

There was an intuitiveness to her. A level of perception, though certainly unaided by magic, that indicated deep empathic ability that manifested even in mortals from time to time. Before this, only his mother had been able to speak words that cut to the center of his soul.

As his breathing slows back to its normal pace, he closes his eyes and sighs.

He did not like to recall that day, when he let go of the Rainbow Bridge and chose chaos over redemption.

Not even chaos. Nothingness. The unknown.

He’d thought so little of himself that this seemed like the only way forward.

The certainty of Hel eluded his invulnerable physical form so he gave himself up to a much darker and crueler fate: chance.

 _Anywhere in the cosmos but here_.

_Anywhere._

This is who he was at his core, he’d thought. Who he’d always be.

He accepted that about himself. He was the god of mischief, after all. He was most comfortable with the unexpected. With the unease of anticipation without relief. With the rolling dice suspended in midair.

He lived for it.

For the sole constant in the universe was change. Not destruction, supremacy, or madness.

Change.

And so the mortal had offered another journey. Another leap into the unknown. He found for the first time in a long time that he felt enough like himself again that his heart was willing to answer the call.

He does not need to say it with his mind and his _seiðr_. His spirit speaks and he knows she can hear his response to her invitation:

_Yes._

**Author's Note:**

> Hope everyone is as safe and healthy as they can be out there <3
> 
> Please take care of yourselves and each other, in body and mind.


End file.
